Warriors' Toney Douglas to miss at least two weeks with stress reaction in tibia

Toney Douglas has played 16.0 minutes per game for the Warriors this season. (Joe Klamar/AFP/Getty Images)

For a fortnight at the least, the Warriors will be without their nominal backup point guard. Golden State reserve Toney Douglas -- who has apparently been playing through pain for some time -- is set to miss two weeks of game action after being diagnosed with a stress reaction in his left tibia on Tuesday, per a report from CSN Bay Area (via PBT). Once that two-week term passes, Douglas' injury will be reevaluated to gauge how the reaction responds to a bit of rest, with the Warriors equipped to sustain a longer absence if need be.

With Douglas sidelined for Tuesday night's game against the Pistons, Warriors coach Mark Jackson defaulted to Andre Iguodala as a first-option playmaker when Stephen Curry sat. This isn't anything unusual for Iguodala; the multi-talented forward is accustomed to running offense even though he's rarely been classified as a point guard, as he both handles the ball and sets up his teammates plenty while more typically filling in minutes on the wing. Even with Douglas on the floor this season, it's been Iguodala who does the bulk of the work initiating and controlling the Warriors' offense. On Tuesday, a slightly more concerted ball-handling role (and the Pistons' generally foul defense) helped Iguodala rack up 11 assists in 32 minutes, including this beautiful behind-the-back feed to David Lee:

[youtube=

And this other, equally beautiful behind-the-back feed to Lee:

Not bad, Iggy. Those are capable hands to run the offense for some 10-15 minutes a night as the game dictates, though the Warriors can make things even easier on Iguodala if they continue to decide games early. Golden State was in control of the verdict on Tuesday night from the first quarter on, making it even easier to rest Iguodala and Stephen Curry, both, while leaving point guard duties to deep reserve Kent Bazemore. This is the kind of luxury a more balanced Warriors team can afford. Douglas is a nice shooter and defender to have in the mix, but Golden State's depth and system -- spearheaded, in this case, by Iguodala's compensatory talents -- make his absence wholly tolerable.